each country wanted to establish themselves
on a world power stage and imperializing colonies
was the way to go.
Africa was a common place for them to imperialize because most of the countries were not established with goverments and militaries yet.
As you can see from the map there were still a good amount of free states but they would eventually be taken over.
The French had the biggest influence of this because of their military presence.
Africa was not the only place the Europeans pushed to imperialize. They imperialized places in Asia and the Middle East. Another important one you might be familiar with is the United States. The colonies were set up originally for this imperialization and it wasn't until we had our revolution that we were out of their control.
Reasons for Imperializing: There were many reasons the Europeans imperialized. A big factor was they wanted more global strength. European countries were doing pretty well for themselves but they wanted to become "superpowers" and they needed more global influence of colonies to obtain this goal. another big factor was the economic opportunities these colonies held. The places they imperialized held a lot of cheap goods the Europeans could use to jumpstart their famous Industrial Revolution. Probably the third biggest factor was there was a big influence during this time to spread Christianity throughout the globe. There were a lot of missionaries who pushed the Christian community to spread their word throughout the globe and they would send a good bit of them through their colonies.
European justification for Imperializing: During the Imperialization of Africa most Europeans would look down upon the Africans. This means they felt that they themselves were of a higher power of dignity than the African people. They thought they could go into Africa and do whatever they felt necessary to benefit themselves because they were more important than the Africans. This got to the point where they would completely take over a place and then ship out the people who lived there as slaves to other places. They felt this was justified because they were more established than Africa.
European ways of Enforcing Imperialiazation: The Europeans at this time had a bigger army then every country they imperialized had. They would easily conquer them if they needed to. They had two seperate ways of enforcing their rule. They had this thing called a protectorate where they would leave rulers and the country to ensure the Imperialization would work. They would monitor things like trading and missionary activity. This was the lesser costing plan they would use. The other thing they would use was the sphere of influence. This is where an outside power claimed exclusice investment or trading piviledges. The Europeans mostly used these in China.
Consequences of Imperialism: A big consequence Imperialism left on Africa was the slave trade that happened once they took it over. There are still places where African slaves are being used and it all started when the Europeans looked to Imperialize it. Another thing is the coups Africa has now. It is not tha they do not know how to govern themselves but their leaders have inherited a colonial legacy that tends to put "brother against brother." Also, when the settlers came in most Africans were doing what they were told by the settlers and they became their "workers." This would lead htem to not know what to do when they left, leaving them lost. It would take them a long time to establish a stable government because they would not know what to do due to lack of experience.
- The Europeans imperialized Africa because
each country wanted to establish themselveson a world power stage and imperializing colonies
was the way to go.
Africa was not the only place the Europeans pushed to imperialize. They imperialized places in Asia and the Middle East. Another important one you might be familiar with is the United States. The colonies were set up originally for this imperialization and it wasn't until we had our revolution that we were out of their control.
European justification for Imperializing: During the Imperialization of Africa most Europeans would look down upon the Africans. This means they felt that they themselves were of a higher power of dignity than the African people. They thought they could go into Africa and do whatever they felt necessary to benefit themselves because they were more important than the Africans. This got to the point where they would completely take over a place and then ship out the people who lived there as slaves to other places. They felt this was justified because they were more established than Africa.
European ways of Enforcing Imperialiazation: The Europeans at this time had a bigger army then every country they imperialized had. They would easily conquer them if they needed to. They had two seperate ways of enforcing their rule. They had this thing called a protectorate where they would leave rulers and the country to ensure the Imperialization would work. They would monitor things like trading and missionary activity. This was the lesser costing plan they would use. The other thing they would use was the sphere of influence. This is where an outside power claimed exclusice investment or trading piviledges. The Europeans mostly used these in China.
Consequences of Imperialism: A big consequence Imperialism left on Africa was the slave trade that happened once they took it over. There are still places where African slaves are being used and it all started when the Europeans looked to Imperialize it. Another thing is the coups Africa has now. It is not tha they do not know how to govern themselves but their leaders have inherited a colonial legacy that tends to put "brother against brother." Also, when the settlers came in most Africans were doing what they were told by the settlers and they became their "workers." This would lead htem to not know what to do when they left, leaving them lost. It would take them a long time to establish a stable government because they would not know what to do due to lack of experience.